Independent shops fail to reward loyalty
From: Christopher Ramus, Harrogate.
WE are now all accustomed to the knowledge that being a loyal customer doesn’t benefit us – in fact it usually costs us our hardearned cash (The Yorkshire Post, February 13).
We now have to bargain annually with utility, insurance and media companies to ensure we are not being ripped off by tariffs which we inherit by default of automatic renewals.
There is a growing move towards giving large discounts offered to attract new customers, while penalising loyal customers of many years.
I have recently witnessed this kind of thinking creeping into the high street in independent shops.
The other morning I phoned a well-known independent shop in Harrogate to ask if some items I required were in stock. I had noticed on their website that they were offering a 15 per cent “welcome” discount. There was a message on the website asking customers to ask about the discount.
The owner asked if I had shopped there before and I said no, but that my wife had in the past. After a short debate about customer loyalty, he said a discount wasn’t appropriate in this case.
If I had lied and said I was a first-time shopper at his shop, or ordered it from the website and had it delivered free, I would have been given a 15 per cent discount.
This first time customer discount only leads to annoying loyal customers.
I voted with my feet and took my business (of several hundred pounds) to a high street giant which had recently given me a voucher entitling me to 15 per cent off on any purchase by returning customers.
I wanted to support an independent business, but sadly it would have cost me over £60 to do so. From: ME Wright, Harrogate.
YET another talking shop has concluded that we are being ripped off by energy suppliers
(The Yorkshire Post, February 13). No matter which “supplier” we have, the same energy comes through the same pipes and cables.
Our “suppliers” supply us only with endless numbers and demands for payment, while supplying themselves and their shareholders with bonuses and dividends.
Competition keeps prices down – or so we are told. If that is true and we obey endless exhortations to “change your supplier” might this not lead to us all opting for the cheapest and thus a monopoly situation?
If juggling numbers really is the answer, why not allow local councils into this arcane world and let them juggle for the benefit of their entire communities?